Nuneaton railway station

Nuneaton
Main station building.
Location
Place	Nuneaton
Local authority	Borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth
Coordinates	52°31′35″N 1°27′49″W / 52.5264°N 1.4636°WCoordinates: 52°31′35″N 1°27′49″W / 52.5264°N 1.4636°W
Grid reference	SP364921
Operations
Station code	NUN
Managed by	London Midland
Number of platforms	7
DfT category	C1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.574 million
2005/06	0.638 million
2006/07	0.690 million
2007/08	0.706 million
2008/09	0.814 million
2009/10	0.894 million
2010/11	0.969 million
2011/12	0.996 million
2012/13	1.040 million
2013/14	1.120 million
2014/15	1.138 million
History
Original company	London and North Western Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
15 September 1847	Opened as Nuneaton
2 June 1924	Renamed Nuneaton Trent Valley
5 May 1969	Renamed Nuneaton
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Nuneaton from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Nuneaton railway station serves the large town of Nuneaton in Warwickshire, England. The station is managed by London Midland. It is served by three railway lines; the Trent Valley section of the West Coast Main Line, the Birmingham-Leicester-Peterborough Line and the Nuneaton to Coventry branch line. It was known, during the period 1924–1969 as Nuneaton Trent Valley, to distinguish it from the now closed Nuneaton Abbey Street station, but it is now Nuneaton's only railway station, though many local people still refer to it as Trent Valley.

The station has the PlusBus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together, at a saving. It is a Penalty fare station when travelling on London Midland services.^[1]

History

Map showing the railways around Nuneaton (Nuneaton on right).

The station was opened in 1847 when the London North Western Railway opened the Trent Valley section of the West Coast Main Line in order to avoid the congested areas of Coventry and Birmingham. A second station, Nuneaton Abbey Street, was opened in 1873 to link the nearby cities of Birmingham and Leicester and also to link Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Coalville via the Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway in order to access the large coal reserves located there.

Nuneaton was historically served by several other stations, Including at Abbey Street, Stockingford, and Chilvers Coton. All of these were closed under the 1963 Reshaping of British Railways report leaving only the present one. In addition, on 18 January 1965 the Coventry – Nuneaton Line closed to passengers.

The Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway Line was closed in 1965 and its track lifted in 1970. Part of it was later reopened as the heritage Battlefield Line.

On 6 June 1975 six people died and 38 were injured in the Nuneaton rail crash just south of the station.

The Coventry – Nuneaton Line reopened to passengers in 1988 as did Bedworth station. This service continues to operate.

In 2004 two extra platforms were built on the site of the former goods loop and engineers' sidings. These new platforms - 6 and 7 - were to accommodate the Birmingham - Leicester - Stansted Airport services and reduce the number of conflicting movements across Nuneaton South Junction by reinstating a disused bridge. This work also removed the pointwork which had allowed trains to run from Coventry to Leicester via a reversal at Nuneaton.

Services

West Coast Main Line

London Midland operate an hourly service, southbound to London Euston via Rugby and Milton Keynes Central, and northbound to Crewe via Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent.^[2]

Virgin Trains services from London Euston to Crewe, Chester, Holyhead, Liverpool Lime Street, Blackpool North and Manchester Piccadilly also call during peak hours.^[3] Until December 2008, all services from London were provided by Virgin Trains when London Midland's Crewe services were introduced.

Great North Western Railway have been given permission to run six trains a day from London to Blackpool North from 2018, with conditional permission for a stop at Nuneaton dependent upon future capacity after infrastructural work.^[4]

Birmingham to Peterborough Line

CrossCountry operate two trains per hour, westbound to Birmingham New Street, and eastbound to Leicester, one of which continues to Stansted Airport via Peterborough and Cambridge. All services on this line use platforms 6 and 7.^[5]

Coventry to Nuneaton Line

London Midland also provide an hourly shuttle service southbound to Coventry via Bedworth.^[2]

Gallery

• 

  A Virgin Trains Pendolino arrives at the platform.

• 

  The two platforms served by the Birmingham-Leicester-Peterborough Line.

• 

  The station Clock Tower.

Motive Power Depot

The loco yard at Nuneaton Depot

The LNWR opened a small locomotive depot in 1847 which was used until 1878 when it was replaced by a larger facility. The engine sheds were doubled in size in 1888 and enlarged still further in 1892.^[6] This was an important freight Depot for the West Coast Main Line and its connections at Trent Valley Station, also catering for local passenger services. It was located to the south of the station between the main line and that to Coventry. The depot closed 6 June 1966 and has since been demolished.

References

1. "Warning Have you paid". Department for Transport / London Midland. 2008. Retrieved 2011-04-29.
2. Timetables London Midland
3. Timetables Virgin Trains
4. Topham, Gwyn. "Virgin has a rival: GNWR to run London to Blackpool west coast rail service". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
5. Timetables CrossCountry
6. Griffiths, Roger; Smith, Paul (1999). The directory of British engine Sheds and Principal Locomotive Servicing Points: 1. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Co. p. 155. ISBN 0-86093-542-6.

External links

• Train times and station information for Nuneaton railway station from National Rail
• Historical photographs of Nuneaton Station at warwickshirerailways.com